Question about maltodextrin
 

I was just reading the ingredients in a bag of pork rinds I bought and noticed it has maltodextrin in it. After a little research I found maltodextrin is a corn starch which is digested like a sugar.

The nutritional information on the bag reads zero carbohydrates and zero sugar.

Is maltodextrin bad to consume? Is it worse than say the ranch dressing I eat that has 1g of sugar in nutritional info?

I read maltodextrin can spike blood sugars.

What are your thoughts? Should I skip eating these?

If you are purchasing these in the USA, we have a system of ingredients labels that allows food manufacturers to claim zero carbs if the amount is lower than 1 gram. Therefore, there can be carbs that are labelled as zero, but a small amount is in the food. It all comes down to how much you want to tolerate and how many pork rinds you eat. When I buy pork rinds, I look for pork rinds and salt as the only two ingredients. I do stay away from maltodextrin or any other added sugars. Some companies will add flavors using the sugar, in this case maltodextrin, as a base that when applied in the manufacturing facility, the flavors will stick to the rinds. I purchase plain pork rinds that don't have these additives. The other observation I'll make is that in the process of using it as a base for other flavors, I'm suspicious of any flavor in general, as this is usually processed chemicals to enhance the amount of consumption of the product and simply add more crap to the food. You know, "betcha can't eat just one." YMMV. Good luck.

So I did a little experiment and tested my blood sugar before and after eating some of those pork rinds.

I tested before eating them, 30 mins after, and 1 hour after eating them. My blood sugar stayed the same in all three tests.

I'm not sure if this proves anything, but eating the maltodextrin did not seem to effect my blood sugars. I would think if my insulin spiked that my blood sugars would rise.

I would say you can assume that the amount of maltodextrin added to said pork rinds is trace and has little to no effect on triggering an insulin response. For you, these rinds appear to be safe.

Many bodybuilders use it before or after a workout instead of sugar. Must be some reason for it. I think it's a filler in the artificial sweetener packets as well that I no longer use.

I proves there is very little carbs in Pork Rinds !
Smart idea.

Extra points for not worrying about whether less than a gram of corn-derived sugar is GMO or not. :lol:

Thanks. I have been trying hard to not eat too many bio-engineered chemicals or substitutes. I just thought it was a good subject to discuss.

Thanks for the replies. :D